Drusilla Adams
Drusilla Adams (later Drusilla Adams Smith, 1929–2015) was an American bluegrass songwriter, lyricist, and music executive who co-founded Blue Ridge Records. Based in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, she initially joined the regional bluegrass band The Church Brothers and their Blue Ridge Ramblers as a dedicated songwriter in 1950, penning traditional numbers such as "An Angel with Blue Eyes" and "Broken Vows and a Broken Heart". When production and distribution delays stalled a recording contract with Tennessee's Rich-R-Tone Records, Adams and her father, Noah Adams, established Blue Ridge Records in 1950 to expedite their own releases. Operating out of a one-microphone facility near North Wilkesboro, the independent label became a foundational outlet for early acoustic music, releasing the landmark 400,000-unit selling hit "Missing in Action" by "Smilin'" Jim Eanes and tracking seminal early records for bluegrass legends Bill Clifton and the Stanley Brothers.
In the newsletter
- No. 28 January 2002